"Venus and the Ark" Question III

I believe that Sexton calls her poem a "spoof" because of the light it sheds on human nature. It is in its core, a satire. The fact that Sexton is alluding to the bible story 'Noah and the Ark' is a satire in and of itself. In the Bible, God sees how bad the world has gotten and decides to wipe out humanity and save his faithful follower. In "Venus and the Ark," the Earth has gotten to a point where the tension and evil has gotten to an extreme height. The threat of nuclear annihilation was a major issue during Sexton's lifetime. The Cold War paranoia of that time was enough to make people doubt humanity's sense of right and wrong. In that tension, Sexton describes an expedition to Venus. However, that exciting advancement was minor news. They celebrated for 15 minutes and "even shortened their weather forecast." The jealousy that sprouted out of that achievement belonging to one nation was enough to tip the other nations into launching full on nuclear warfare. She was commenting on the fact that this paranoia and the hatred of other nations caused the destruction of the world. It was only after the death of the world that a new one could be born.